


Disconnected

by darkspacelord



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Trans Dib (Invader Zim), Trans Male Character, Trans Zim (Invader Zim)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:35:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29242932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkspacelord/pseuds/darkspacelord
Summary: Just a short piece about Zim revealing to Dib that he's trans like him.
Relationships: Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 45





	Disconnected

“I got you something,” Zim said as he handed Dib a folded piece of clothing with a ghost pattern on it. Dib reached over and grasped onto the clothing before unfolding it. Dib smiled, recognizing that it was a binder.

“Oh thank you Zim,” Dib said as he folded the binder. “Been needing a new one.”

“And no wearing it to bed,” Zim said. 

“I only did that once.”

“I recall three times.” Zim glared at Dib. “Promise?”

“Okay, I promise I won’t wear it to bed.” Dib looked away briefly and Zim could tell he looked a bit sullen.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just worry about being adequate enough,” Dib admitted. “If it matters that I’m not cis.”

Zim looked down briefly and reached to wrap his hands around Dib’s wrists. “Why would I care?”

“I don’t know. I guess it’s a pointless worry, it’s just…”

“I’ve always seen you as a boy, Dib. And I’m not…” Zim paused. “I’m not what the humans call ‘cis’ either.”

Dib looked a bit taken back. “You’re not? I, I guess I never really thought about aliens being trans. I’m curious, if you don’t mind me asking, how it works for irkens.”

“Let me tell you,” Zim said.

“He calls himself, Zim, my Tallest,” one of the irken guards said as younger Zim fiddled with a highly dangerous military weapon. His antennae curled but he didn’t wear eyelashes like the other female irkens often wore. They stood in one of the many military research labs, full of vortians messing with strange chemicals and the sound of machines buzzing filling the room.

“He?” Tallest Miyuki questioned.

“That’s what he prefers, yes,” the guard answered.

Miyuki waved a hand. “Very well. I suppose there is no harm if the little irken wishes to call himself something different.”

Zim reached up to touch his antennae. It wasn’t enough not to wear the eyelashes and most everything else about the irken appearance was already gender neutral. The shape of his antennae were always going to give him away.

He remembered when they first started to curl and how betrayed he felt that his own body would do this. They were supposed to be straight just like the other male irkens. He spent many hours fiddling with his antennae, but no matter how hard he tried to straighten them with his fingers they would spring back into their natural shape. He tried taping them but it never quite worked and it looked painfully obvious to the other irkens what he was trying to do.

It was exhausting to Zim to have to explain to every new irken he meant that yes, he knew what name they assigned him, but his name was Zim, and despite his appearance he was in fact a ‘he’. 

Zim looked cautiously over at the guard and Tallest Miyuki before slipping away towards a door at the end of the lab. The vortian scientists were far too distracted to take notice and Zim knew that being so small meant he could easily leave without anyone noticing.

Zim exited through the door and entered the long hallway. He wandered for several moments through the twists and turns of the maze of hallways until he was standing outside several elevators. He pressed a button and waited several moments.

When one of the elevator doors slid open, he entered and said, “Take me to the basement, PAK spare parts.” 

“Authorization?” the elevator called out.

“Authorization? I am Zim!” 

“‘I am Zim’ is not valid authorization.” 

Zim reached underneath his tunic and pulled out a small gun labeled, “EXPERIMENTAL: DO NOT USE”. Zim pulled the trigger and a laser shot out of the tip, colliding with the elevator walls. Smoke and a loud boom soon filled the elevator. 

When the smoke eventually faded, a few pieces of the elevator had fallen to the floor but still remained mostly intact.

The elevator voice coughed and said, “‘I am Zim’ is now valid authorization. Please, just don’t do that again.” 

The elevator descended rapidly several floors and Zim grasped the walls until finally the elevator stopped and opened its doors. Zim took a step and entered a massive room filled with wires, broken PAKs, and electronic chips. 

Zim walked past several rows of shelves, all of which were labeled in irken. He grabbed several wires, electronic chips, and tools from his pocket before sitting down against one of the walls. He removed his PAK and popped off the lid.

Zim fiddled with his PAK for several moments, removing a few parts and adding a few new ones. He just needed to make one little change to his PAK and then he could finally find comfort. He reconnected his PAK and rubbed his antennae. He knew he would  
have to wait much longer before he saw any effect but at least he knew it would happen.

“Wish it were that easy for us humans,” Dib said. 

“I am quite brilliant and have access to a lot of technology, Dib,” Zim said.

“Maybe when I thought about it more. It’s a big decision after all and also because you tend to make things explode.”

“I only make things explode when I want them to.” Zim waved a hand. Dib shot him a disbelieving look.

“I never realized we had that in common. But how come you never talked about it before?”

Zim waved his hand. “Zim does not like to dwell on the past. And everyone on earth treats me like a boy even if I go against you human worms’ silly ‘gender roles’.”

Dib nodded. “That’s fair.”

“But I understand and I want you to be happy with who you are too.” 

Dib smiled. “Thanks Zim.”


End file.
